


Tightrope

by lotorsoftsmile (mistellation)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: A lot of Quintessence, Post Season 6, Romelle is a clone, Shapeshifting, asshole keith, author is sorry, hints of lancelot, mid-season 6, past lotura, real Romelle is missing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2018-10-27
Packaged: 2019-08-08 11:19:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16428395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mistellation/pseuds/lotorsoftsmile
Summary: When you find yourself having been thrown into space on your own, you have to overcome your feelings. Feelings are not going to save your life, nor anyone else’s.





	1. People look like they're specks of dust when you're this high off the ground

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kyberdust](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyberdust/gifts).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Annie’s idea, but I’m not even sorry it got this far. Keep in mind it was supposed to be a joke, tho.
> 
> And most importantly, I hope you enjoy it!

> _I'm_ _fighting_ _with_ _gravity_ , _trying_ _not_ _to_ _fall_.  _But_ _how_ _come_ _the_ _ones_ _we_ _love_ _can_ _make_ _us_ _feel_ _so_ _small?_
> 
> _— Tightrope,_ The Score

Gripping the Sincline controls tight, he gasped, his lungs burning as he snapped out his dizziness. His head spun, spun, _spun_ around the cockpit, purple lights pulsing through the dark of his closed eyelids. Panting, breathing as good as he could manage behind the massive mop of hair sticking to his sweated skin, he flickered his eyes open. Alert panels were flashing in the screens, blurry through his disoriented sight, and he tried to focus on those: «Overload of energy in the systems; shipcraft about to collapse.»   
  
Overload of energy...?   
  
Looking further, he tried to see were he was. Flashing lights blinded him momentarily and made it impossible to find out, but he frowned and focused harder. The universe crept in the void, a lilac tone shimmering.   
  
And then he just knew it, stiffing in his chair and grasping his controls tighter. The quintessence field. He was in the quintessence field, and all of that quintessence was overloading his ship’s systems. He quickly closed the warning pages on the screens and checked the controls of the ship. It came back to life way too fast, the screens sparkling with the amount of energy running through the wires and the ship moved. He stared at the radars, waiting for the gap to appear on it, but it just didn’t. He found no exit.    
  
There was no exit. His fingers went limp on the controls, cold sweat ran down his back and air was dragged out his chest in fear. He was still disoriented, he didn’t remember when or how he got into the quintessence field, and it was more scary not to find a way out.    
  
He lowered his head, leading it to his knees as he tried to get his breath back; the back of his head throbbed painfully like it was just as overloaded as the ship and his inner self, a voice that sounded too much like Dayak’s, was screaming at him, to get up, to pilot, to _get out_...    
  
The radar’s beeping was like angel chorus on the flames of hell. His head lifted so quick he needed a moment to focus his gaze on the screen, but when his sight cleared he saw it: another ship, behind his.   
  
He could barely hold his shock back when he turned the sincline around and he spotted the Castle of Lions surrounded by a mass of prickling quintessence.    
  
“Allura...” he whispered. A sharp pain thundered through him, right to his brain with Allura’s face: twisted in anger, in fury; at _him_.   
  
There were too many probabilities for him to literally die getting from his ship to the Castle, but he did it anyway. He placed the sincline as close to the Castle as he could, near a hangar, and took a deep breath before putting his helmet on.    
  
Outside was overwhelming. His hair was giving him enough heat, but the crackling energy surrounding him was _burning_. It set him on fire, his brain boiling up on low heat as he jumped into the outside hangar of the Castle, panting dry air into his helmet. He thought of his team. Where were they? If he had formed sincline, which he totally had, then they would have been... kicked out of their cockpits. While he tried to sneak into the Castle, he tried to use the comms. He called out for Ezor; Zethrid; Acxa. No response. The hatch didn’t open.    
  
He tried again the comms, digging his fingers into the door cracks. No answer again. A frustrated grunt fell from his lips at the exact moment the hatch hissed itself open and he threw himself in almost immediately, kicking it closed again.    
  
The Castle was empty. He didn’t check the rooms one by one, but he just knew. He had no clue of what could had happened, why was the Castle of Lions inside the quintessence field, but he didn’t have time to make memory. The concern for the Paladins and the two alteans was suffocating, but it didn’t stop him from entering the control room, muting the disappointment he felt when he checked anyone was there.    
  
The consoles obeyed him and the Castle came back to life on the spot when he stepped on the podium. The navigation pillars Allura used emerged, and his cheekbones were hot as if he was blushing, a sensation he had already experienced before... He knew two purple altean marks were on his face, allowing him to pilot the Castle. The weight of guilt landed on his shoulders, light like a feather, and gained weight as he commanded the Castle. That was _Allura’s_  Castle, _Team Voltron’s_ Castle. Ah _he_ was piloting it, forcing it around the quintessence rift in a rush on his search for an exit, unsuccessfully.    
  
Eventually, he made his way out thanks to the quintessence on his body running through the pillars and to the teludav, and snapping the Castle out the rift. Maybe he lost his consciousness once he was out, exhausted to the point he just collapsed to his knees for a moment. And he waited; waited for his generals to make contact with the ship. He waited for the Paladins to do it, to see the lions on the screen. But the universe remained silent for long enough to make him uncertain of how much he had been waited.    
  
When he stood again, leaning into the main console, he made a bet. He surfed through the data stored on the Castle and loaded a map of the Earth, in the Solar System, Milky Way. Gritting his teeth, Lotor charged the coordinates on the automated pilot and headed to Earth.   
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this chapter was kinda heavy ? and slow ? but I didn’t want to make it too long,, Next chapter is not as slow and it gets a bit into action, so hang in there!
> 
> Also, if you did like, leave a comment on your thoughts and maybe a small kudo~ ( ु́•̶̤ ‧̫ ⁃ ૂ̀ ).☽˚⁺ Thanks for reading!


	2. I'll do my best not to let you down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is taking way too long isn’t it. I mean, how much do I need to write a joke prompt?

> _ I'll do my best not to let you down, so feet don't fail me now cause I am walking the tightrope. _
> 
> _—Tightrope,_ The Score

Steadying his breath, James Griffin placed his finger on the trigger before leaving his hiding spot, shooting at the sentries with a war scream. The background shooting raged on his ears, leaving all the work to his sight, but he managed to hear the ship. Behind him, an unknown aircraft was landing on the desert in a not very subtle way.   
  
And James made a mistake. Startled by the noise and the sand the ship lifted, James spun on his heels to look at it, gripping his weapon tight to his chest. He was surprised to find what must have been an alien aircraft, a minimalistic castle shaped right in front of him. The hatch opened, hissing as the ramp fell to the ground and a figure emerged from the ship.    
  
On the moment James lifted his weapon and the air was dragged out of his lungs. A sharp pain exploded on his back and his knees went weak, making him collapse into the ground with a gasp. As pain increased, breathing became harder, forcing James to drop his weapon to clutch at his chest desperately just to find there was a hole. The laser blaze had cauterized the wound, and the smell of roasted flesh made him sick for a moment before he fell forward, his whole body becoming heavy, heavy, _heavy_ , too heavy, as well as his eyelids. The last thing James Griffin saw was a purple man jumping out the castle-like ship, and the thought of having been defeated made what was left of his heart tighten.    
  
Lotor wasn’t surprised when he saw the sentries. He had seen the galra battleships on the planet’s surroundings, the fighter ships entering the atmosphere. The dead human boy at his feet topped it all. He was on Earth; he just hasn’t been the first one to arrive.   
  
Getting rid of the sentries took more time than it usually required, his tired muscles crying out due to the effort he had to make, and when the last one fell, Lotor felt like he was next in line. Not only because of his exhertion; the fact that the Galra had arrived to the Earth first, the fact that there was a war going on... He feared he was too late. On his way to Earth he had used the Castle to track the Voltron lions, confirming they were on the Earth’s solar system, but not exactly _in_ the planet. They were on a nearby planet, not moving. Lotor checked on them, but he didn’t found the Paladins, so the best option was to check on Earth.    
  
Lotor kneeled near the dead human body, turning it upwards to look at his face. It was a young boy, not older than the Paladins. A sentry had shooted him to the chest. Lotor took a moment to think, a hideous idea forming up on his mind as he looked at the fresh corpse.    
  
Frowning, he squeezed his eyes shut and changed. It didn’t take too long, he didn’t even need to look at the body again to get it right, he just did it. He shapeshifted into the dead boy. He did it to protect himself, to ensure he could move among humans and find the Paladins without problems, given the planet was stuck in a war with the galra.    
  
He also switched clothes, wincing at the hole on the suit when he slipped into it. That would surely bring him problems. When he grabbed the boy’s helmet he noticed it had a communication system on it and it was crackling with voices. Lotor put it on, listening carefully.    
  
“...know, he just went quiet!” a girl’s voice snarled.    
  
“We have to leave,” a low voice intervened, probably a boy. “Call him again and if he doesn’t answer we are going back to the Garrison.”   
  
The Galaxy Garrison. Lance had talked about their military school once, barely giving him any information, but from what Lotor knew, the place was a military base and was probably where humans were locking up from the galra invasion.   
  
“Griffin?” a voice spoke, another girl with a more calmed tone than the first one. “Griffin, this is Leifsdottir. _James_ , do you copy?”   
  
The comms then went silent, waiting for an answer. Lotor cupped the chances of ‘James’ being the dead boy at his feet with careful hands.    
  
He cleared his throat. “Leifsdottir, James here. I copy.”   
  
The first girl let out a relieved sigh and laughed, “Griffin, I _swear_ to... What’s up with that voice, tho, did you eat dirt? Anyway, hurry the frick up or we are leaving without you. Veronica can’t contain those robo-fuckers any longer.”   
  
Lotor didn’t let himself roll on his relief before putting his luck to the test once again. “Sorry, I just got cornered. Where are you?”   
  
“Did you hit your head?” The calmer girl said, still calm. “We said we would gather up on the secret tunnels, we are leaving in what we came.”   
  
Tunnels? Like underground tunnels? It didn’t make any more sense to Lotor, and he looked around him to try and ubicate himself first. He was clearly outside, not far from what must have been a city, but now it was just debris. Lotor ran to it, searching for something than seemed like and underground entry. He guessed there must have been one where the real James had came from, but it took him a solid five minutes to find it. The boy with deep voice urged at him once more, sounding a little bit alarmed by what must be ‘robo-fuckers’ outnumbering them. Lotor hurried through the dark until he spotted a train.    
  
“There he is! Guys, get the train moving!”   
  
He didn’t even turned around to see who had spoken, Lotor just ran to the train as fast as he could, reaching out when it started to move lazily. He got up before it caught any real speed and then turned, seeing a tanned girl run to him. She had short chocolate hair and two cold blue eyes were cased behind a pair of glasses.    
  
Lotor’s breath caught on his throat.  _ Lance... _ __  
  
The girl didn’t make it to the train in time. The machine began speeding up and left away the human legs effortlessly, leaving Lotor staring owlishly at the girl while her face twisted up in fear as she got left behind on the dark.    
  
“What the _ heck _ took you so- Where’s Veronica?”   
  
Lotor didn’t turn around immediately, blinking away from the tunnel before eyeing the girl who had just entered the last cabin. She wore glasses too, but her brown eyes snapped Lotor out of his slumber.   
  
“She didn’t make it,” he simply said, letting his shoulders fall. He wasn’t really affected for the fact that an unknown human was just left behind, but those eyes... She had reminded him of Lance’s. Her  __ whole face resembled the paladin and that had left a sour taste on his mouth, a weight on his shoulders he couldn’t quite shake.    
  
The girl’s face fell as well. “Oh.”   
  
Neither of them said anything else, and Lotor let the girl’s obvious sadness fulfill the silence. They moved to the driver’s cabin, and Lotor counted two more people in there: a blonde girl wearing an expression of indifference and a black boy... making pretty much the same face. Both had been in silence when Lotor and the other girl entered, and the guy was the only one who lifted his gaze to look at them briefly. His dark eyes lingered on Lotor for a moment long enough for the Emperor to fear his cover had been blown up, but a tick after, the boy glanced at the girl with glasses. He didn’t said anything about Veronica's absence, nor did the blonde girl. The thick silence was the only explanation needed.    
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry I did that. Actually, Annie’s prompt was just that James was shapeshifted Lotor, and I thought, “Well, it would be a lot of trouble to explain James’ existence if he had been Lotor the whole time, so let’s just... kill him?”
> 
> Also, if you did like, leave a comment on your thoughts and maybe a small kudo~ ( ु́•̶̤ ‧̫ ⁃ ૂ̀ ).☽˚⁺ Thanks for reading!


	3. I am living on high hopes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am ?? sorry ??  
> I intended to make this a two-chapters shot, but apparently I like it more than I thought and I can’t finish it in one go. Annie, you better be happy.

 

> _I am living on high hopes, now they're crashing through._
> 
> _—Tightrope,_ The Score

  
Unfortunately for Lotor, ‘James Griffin’, the dead boy whom he had stolen the appearance from, was the team leader. This dragged too much attention to him and made his lack of knowledge and memories more noticeable, but he was a good liar. If he had managed to make a whole empire, his father and his witch included, believe he was on their side, he could fool a group of human kids. That shouldn’t be a problem.   
  
So he caught as much information about James Griffin as he could from how his subordinates treated him and once they arrived to their base, the Galaxy Garrison, he sneaked out of sight as fast as possible, excusing himself due to his injuries and exhaustion. The glasses girl seemed to snap out of her grief for the comrade that has been left behind at the mention of injuries.

“Want me to help you?” she asked him, grabbing her own hands as if they itched for movement. “I mean… James, you have a hole on your suit.”

Lotor looked down and made a surprised face. “Oh, that… It is not- It’s no big deal. The fabric scratched when some debris fell on me. It’s fine.”

The girl, _Rizavi_ , he reminded himself, didn’t look convinced. Lotor forced a frown.

“I just want to forget we are at war for a moment. Think you can do that and give me some time?” he said, not cold enough to look mean, but as firmly as a teenager’s voice could be. For a tick, Lotor thought he had messed up. Rizavi’s eyebrows tried to disappear by her hairline as soon as Lotor was done speaking, as if it had taken her a moment to process what he had said. Cold sweat dripped down Lotor’s back as he inwardly cursed. He had made up an excuse perfectly suitable for a young boy to make, but the way Rizavi fixed her eyes on his made Lotor worry. As he slowly reached for the gun on his hip, Rizavi’s lower lip trembled once.

“ _Fine_ ”, she spat, dropping her hands at both sides. “Take some rest, _officer Griffin_.” And then she spun on her heels and stomped to where Leifsdottir and the back guy -Kinkade- were.

The tension on Lotor’s body melted ever so slightly, resting his hand on the gun’s halt anyway. He eyed the team once more and then left, drifting randomly into the human base.

* * *

 

When they stepped on the hangar, Lotor thought he was going to faint. Grateful he was leaning against a vehicle, he let out a shaky exhale.

_The Voltron team was alive._

The first one to spot him was the Black Paladin… Keith. Lotor had been looking at all of them, counting them, looking for injuries -what the _quiznak_ had happened to Shiro’s hair?-, _counting them again_ , so when Keith looked at him it seemed like he had been staring. Lotor glared back at him. He then realized he didn’t know whether Keith and James Griffin had known each other before the first left Earth. Sadly, Lotor noticed he didn’t know much about James Griffin. For the couple of days he had been using his face non-stop, Lotor hadn’t gathered much information, aside from his charge and duty, but he looked up at Keith when he approached him.

Keith’s face was different. The last time they met, there hadn’t been much time to catch up on their adventures, so Lotor actually hummed at how Keith looked older, bigger and grizzlier. There was also a scar on his face Lotor suspected had been made with Galra weaponry.

“Keith!” a voice came over as someone approached them both, and Lotor’s heart skipped a beat. “Kosmo is trying to- Oh, sorry… Am I interrupting?”

Carefully, Lotor directed his gaze to Allura. _Allura_. She was smiling nicely at him and sending nervous glances at Keith by the corner of her eyes since neither of them was actually speaking. Lotor took a sharp breath, a strangled sound that left Allura finally softening her face at him.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you…  I’m just your neighborhood friendly alien!”

_That_ made Keith snap out of the trance he had sunk into, tearing his glare away from Lotor to look at Allura with his lips forming a stunned ‘o’. When he recovered from his shock a tick after, he turned on his heels and yelled, “ _Lance!_ Stop teaching Allura useless crap!”

And then Lance was there too, bickering with a very upset Keith. Lotor barely wondered what the heck was wrong with Keith to start yelling at Lance out of the blue, and he dedicated a frown at the way Lance’s eyes were watering on his scrunched up face. Lotor watched for a moment, waiting for them both to calm down before taking a decision, but then Keith said something that made Lance fell silent and stare at him. Allura looked at Lotor worriedly before carefully lifting her hands to say something, but Lotor’s blood was roaring in his ears and maybe that was why he didn’t registered he was speaking until it was too late.

“ _Well,_ is it not a rude behaviour to show to a friend, Paladin of Black?”

The three of them turned to look at him with various expressions. Keith’s face twisted in anger at the interruption, a fury that melted like butter after the tick that took him to recognize Lotor’s voice. Allura looked slightly sick, like she had seen a ghost. And Lance… Lance’s face was mixture between surprise, defeat and… something dangerously similar to disgust. “You have to be _kidding_ ” he said in a restrained tone, like he was about to burst.

Lotor closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, cursing himself inwardly. When he opened his eyes, a luxide blade was against his throat, a riffle aimed between his eyebrows and a whip hissed menacingly when it hit the floor, three pair of angry eyes at him.

“Start talking before we put an end to your suffering”, Keith spat between his gritted teeth.

Lotor looked Lance in eyes, face blank. He studied his eyes, his hair, his features… and sighed. “I am deeply sorry about your sister.”

He watched as something sharp crossed Lance’s face. “ _What have you done to her?”_ , he roared, pressing his weapon harder to Lotor’s forehead, but his hands were trembling. Keith looked like he was ready to slash Lotor’s throat open, right there in the middle of the hangar… that had gone quiet.

Just as quiet, a gun was pressed to the back of Lance’s head. Other two joined at Keith’s and Allura’s heads, and everyone went very still. Kinkade’s eyes shone as he gave Lotor a quick look over Lance’s crown, but he was talking to the paladin when he spoke: “Is everything going fine over here?”

Rizavi’s face was an impossible blend between coldness and rage, and she lifted her free hand to play with Allura’s long locks. “Pretty hair ya got there. Would be a pity if it ended up soaked in _blood_ , wouldn’t it, space babe?”

Leifsdottir said nothing, but she was burning holes on the back of Keith’s head so _cold_ Lotor thought he was going to freeze in place.

Lance looked like he hadn’t noticed the gun at any of them. His eyes were on fire as he glared at Lotor. “You are even more evil than I remember. Didn’t have enough destroying Lura’s feelings? Or harvesting a _whole_ quiznaking space race? Or tryna kill us all?”

Rizavi shifted ever so slightly, glancing at her team. Kinkade grunted. “How about we all calm the fuck down and explain what’s going on?”

“I’m not gonna calm down!” Keith exploded. The blade pressed against Lotor’s skin and the galtean winced but didn’t backed off. He let the pain clear his mind, noticing then the people gathering around them. Shiro had a startled look on his face, looking at his three friends like he was going to cry, and Lotor realized he hadn’t shape-shifted back to his original form. After spending four days straight in James’ face, the adrenaline running through his veins made changing hard. Looking past Hunk and Coran, Lotor saw someone familiar he hadn’t noticed first.

“ _You_ ”, he breathed, fixating his eyes at Romelle. “ _So shameless._ ”

His voice came out more like a hiss than actual words, and Romelle seemed to intend making herself smaller; it didn’t matter. Everyone’s attention was on her.

Lotor let out a humourless laugh that made Allura flinch at his right. “ _How cocky of you! To stay with them and to follow them to their planet._ ” The weapons around him lowered as his voice went quieter, colder, angrier. The clothes he was wearing went tight on him and Rizavi gasped. Lotor felt his claws dig on the heel of his hands as he came back to himself out of pure rage. Romelle tried to step back, but a man with a scarred eye was behind her, blocking her way while he gave her a suspicious look.

“ _Lotor_ ”, Lance said as a warning, but Lotor didn’t look at the cuban.

“Come here” the Emperor said, and even though the coldness shattered off his tone, Romelle shuddered. “ _Please_ , come closer and tell me _exactly the same_ you told this kind men and women when you came claiming to be from a enslaved colony of mine.”

For the first time, Keith looked surprised. He hesitated, lifting his blade again. “What… is this about?”

Lotor jerked his head at the blonde without looking away from her. “That is what I am trying to find out. The moment this lady speaks up, we are all going to know.”

But Romelle just looked nervous. She hadn’t said a word yet, and Hunk carefully took a step away from Romelle to gave her a look. Coran frowned, glancing to Shiro briefly, and Lotor could almost see the pieces clicking together in his mind. “Romelle?” he encouraged softly, but his eyes were on Lotor.

The alluded flinched. “W-What I told you is all true!”

Lotor barked, “Shapeshift.”

Romelle gaped, looking lost. “What-?”

“If you are an Altean”, Lotor cut her off, suddenly calmed, “then _shapeshift_.”

That made both Coran and Allura straighten. Her face was twisted with a visceral pain, eyes locked on the floor in disbelief. Coran had closed his eyes, letting his shoulder fall with defeat and he turned his face away from Romelle. The rest of them looked confused, eyes jumping from Lotor to Romelle.

“Even half-breed Alteans can shapeshift, as you just witnessed”, he explained, face like stone. “Even Alteans with small bit of quintessence in them… even them can shapeshift; just a finger, just the hair. _All_ Alteans can shapeshift, so please, _show us._ ”

But Romelle didn’t shapeshift. She just kept gaping, looking at Lotor over Shiro’s shoulder, who had approached her to look at her eyes. He stared, searching for something neither of them knew, face decomposed. Whatever he found, it made him gesture at the man with a scarred eye, who immediately put Romelle’s hands behind her back, handcuffing her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, well, things got spicy (๑ ิټ ิ) 
> 
> It pains my heart that I made Shiro recognize the clone in Romelle’s eyes...
> 
> Also, if you did like, leave a comment on your thoughts and maybe a small kudo~ ( ु́•̶̤ ‧̫ ⁃ ૂ̀ ).☽˚⁺ Thanks for reading!


	4. I am walking the tight rope

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know, at this point I’ve assumed my fate: I don’t see this fic as a joke anymore (even if the prompt itself kinda was???) and I won’t end it until I feel it has reached the end of the story.
> 
> Also I mADE A POSTER FOR THE FIC: [HERE ](https://66.media.tumblr.com/0bda7ec0fbbed5f6a87237a8559cf2e5/tumblr_ph9vnhUZDB1thkkzz_1280.png)

 

 

 

> _I hold my breath and close my eyes,  
>  I grab my heart when I realize:  
>  I am walking the tightrope for you._
> 
> _—Tightrope,_ The Score
> 
>  

They had handcuffed Lotor as well. _For safety_ , Allura had mumbled as she maneuvered at his back. Lotor didn’t refuse, he just went as visibly relaxed as he could muster, as if to say _Come on. I’m harmless._ He really was. Once the adrenaline had faded, seeing the Paladins’ faces all around him left him just sad.

He had remembered all that had happened. Romelle’s accusation, his generals’ rescue -using Shiro’s _clone_ , how had Lotor not noticed what was going on, even after Narti?- and the fight. He remembered buzzing with quintessence, the sincline intoxicating him. It hadn’t worked. However King Alfor built the Castle of Lions, Lotor had failing to replicate it. The Sincline ship did work with quintessence, but it did also affect its pilot. In, apparently, a very bad way. It was like the quintessence had… not possessed him, but definitely it did something to his common sense.

“How did you get out the rift?” Keith asked him. They had moved to a more comfortable room so everyone could take a seat before anybody fainted. The Paladins were seated closer to Lotor while James’ team were at the other side of the table. Krolia, Coran and the scarred man -Iverson- had taken Romelle to a more… safer room. They hadn’t removed her cuffs. 

“I took the Castle of Lions.”

Pidge seemed surprised. “It let you pilot it?”

Lotor _tried_ not to scowl. “The navigation pillars responded to me, yes. 

“What happened to your ship?” inquired Hunk, frowning as if he feared said ship would show up out of nowhere and began attacking him.

Lotor shrugged, but he regretted it as the cuffs bit the flesh of his wrists at the moving of his arms. “I left it on the rift.” Not only Hunk seemed relieved by that. 

Lance leaned into the table to look at Lotor around Allura’s body. “What did you mean you’re sorry about my sister? How do you know Veronica, _what did you do to her-_?”

“Wait, you are Veronica’s brother?” Rizavi interrupted him, frowning sadly. “She… We were on a resource mission. She didn’t make it in time and…. we left without her.”

Lance didn’t say anything for a moment. Hunk slid an arm over Lance’s shoulders, hugging him on one side. Everyone went silent for a few ticks, Shiro and Pidge showing Lance their support with small gestures.

“Are we sure he didn’t leave Veronica behind on purpose or did something to her?” said Leifsdottir after a moment. Lotor scowled at her, but that was the only thing he had time to do before everything blew up.

“For your own sake, I _hope_ she’s wrong-” went Lance.

Keith huffed humorlessly, “Funny we still have doubts he did…”

Hunk fidgeted, “Guys, I don’t think-”

“Why would he do that?” said Rizavi, raising her over over everyone else’s. They turned to look at the MFE team. Rizavi raised a brow, “I mean, I wouldn’t _know_ because you guys just crashed in and then James is not James and no one is telling us what the fuck is going on. But…” she trailed off, landing her gaze at Lotor. “I saw his face when we left. I don’t know why would he look so… troubled, if he had intended to leave her since the beginning.”

Lotor was speechless for a moment. He looked back at her, trying to ask without words. _Why… Why are you helping me?_  

Rizavi shrugged. “It just doesn’t make sense. Why would he bother getting rid of Veronica? We hadn’t even went on missions with her before.”

Kinkade keeping his mask of indifference on, but there was something on his voice that hinted about his annoyance, “Maybe she found out he actually wasn’t… James.”

Leifsdottir slammed her hands flat on the table, looking pissed. “Just… For how long have you been pretending to be him?”

Allura was the only one who didn’t turned to see Lotor, but she eyes him by the corner of her eye. Lotor shifted, “Four days. Since the mission.”

Kinkade pressed in, “Since _when_ , exactly?”

“When you separated, I suppose. I landed the Castle on a desert area, near the city, and James Griffin-”

“ _Don’t say his name_ ”, hissed Leifsdottir. 

Lotor made a pause. “...He was fighting sentries. Alone,” he pointed out when Lance made to open his mouth. “He was shooted through the chest. Died instantly. I had seen the Galra ships on the Earth’s orbit and assumed something had gone wrong, so I didn’t think walking around in this form would take me anywhere.” When he made another pause and no one interrupted him, Lotor looked away from Rizavi’s eyes since he started talking to look all around the presents. “So, yes. I shape-shifted to look like him and took his clothes.” 

Shiro was shaking his head. “Why… Why didn’t you tell them who you were?”

Lotor couldn’t help but snore. “I am aware my life worths nothing to you, but at least you could act like I already explained why… Which I actually _did_ -” 

“Fine”, Allura cut him off, raising a hand at Shiro as if the man had made a single move against Lotor… which wasn’t the case at all. Shiro just looked sympathetic. Apparently, they had misunderstood everything, and Shiro believed every word that came out of Lotor’s mouth. “We will take some time to talk about all this and then we will decide what we do with you-”

“I trust him”, Shiro blurted. 

Lance whipped his head toward him so fast Lotor thought he had heard Lance’s spine snap. “ _What_ do you mean you trust him?”

Shiro pinched over the scar on his nose. “When I was… When my _clone_ was under Haggar’s command… The orders were to get Lotor” he looked up. “Not to _rely_ on him if the plan went wrong. To _get him_ regardless. I’m thinking… Is it not a bit strange the plan was to get him and that’s it? I mean… it’s like Haggar just _knew_ Lotor would be accused of something. But it was Keith and Krolia who found Romelle… If they hadn’t, Haggar’s plan would have been pointless.”

Pidge’s chair creaked as they leaned back against it. “So basically… you are suggesting Haggar planned the whole Romelle-uncovers-Lotor-thing.” 

Shiro nodded, “Yeah. Because if Keith and Krolia hadn’t found her, taking Lotor out of the Castle would have been meaningless.”

“Where are my generals?”, Lotor inquired after a moment where everyone let the news sink in.

Keith shook his head. “They fled away during the fight.”

Lotor inhaled sharply through his nose, taking his eyes away from everyone. Even Leifsdottir left him a moment to compose himself. His generals… They were the only family he had ever known. Lotor had been an orphan ever before he was born, and came to life alone. Dayak had taken good care of him, she had taught him how to make himself a place on the universe… but she had been cold. She hadn’t understand that he was more than Prince of the Galra Lotor. The girls had understood. What it meant to be _half blood_ , to come from nowhere, to never be just one thing. Not an Altean, not a Galra. They had understood, they had _accepted_ him, and he had accepted them the way only other half breed could do. Lotor was aware they weren’t the most healthy definition of friendship, but to him… to him, they had been his only friends. And they had done it as good as they could.

When Lotor could finally make words leave past the knot in his throat, he turned to Allura. “I came to this planet because when I entered the Castle on the rift, no one was there. And when I exited the rift, no one was there neither. And I…” he hesitated, frowning. Allura’s eyes locked on his and behind all the… distance, there was a spark of hope. “... I was worried I had killed all of you. I had to… I had to make sure you were fine.”

A raw emotion crossed Allura’s face, and Lotor realized the position she was being put into: her former partner, the person who she trusted, had first turned out to be a massive murderer, a liar, and the villain he initially was. Then, by a turning of events, he was back at being the nice person she had fallen for. But it wasn’t so easy. Lotor comprehended she couldn’t just pretend nothing happened. He wasn’t even sure if he himself still wanted to retake their relationship after all they had been through. Because, yes, he understood he hadn’t left Voltron much other option than fight him… but he was also very aware neither of them had tried to stop him in a peaceful way. Neither of them had, nor even for a second, trusted him when Romelle showed up. Even with all the holes in her story, they had all believed her above all Lotor had done to prove his loyalties. And that… that hurt.

“What did exactly happen at the rift?” asked Allura, voice going the smallest he had ever heard in her.

“Hm”, Lotor hummed, “I guess I already do have more than enough quintessence in my body to risk to overexposure. An overdose, you could say.”

Keith added a rough, “Like what happened to your parents”, and Lotor stiffened in his seat. Shiro jolted somewhere in Lotor’s suddenly unfocused vision range and hissed, “ _Keith.”_  

“Yes”, Lotor spat, silencing whatever Shiro had intended to say next. “ _Just_ like them.”

“You are nothing like them.”

The Emperor drifted his gaze around the table until his eyes found Lance. He was staring at the table, but there was no doubts it was him who had spoken. Lotor said nothing, he just looked at the cuban in shock.

“Well”, Allura said, standing. “Now things have been cleared out, we need to discuss what to do with-”

“There is nothing to discuss”, Lotor cut her off. He rotated his shoulders tentatively… and then pulled back, dislodging his arms over his head. The snaps of his bones muffled the several gasps the presents let out, but Lotor went on until his hand were in his lap. He took a closer look to the cuffs, and after considering briefly, he pulled. The links deformed easily under Lotor’s strength and he was free. He got to his feet slowly, still getting rid of the remaining restrictions, but he tried his best to look harmself.

“I told you, I came because I wanted to know you were alive. You are. I have nothing to do here anymore.” He lifted his gaze. “I’m going to look for my generals.”

“You can’t just-!”

Walking to the door, he said “The MFE team can come with me if they wish. I will show them where Ja-... Where their comrade’s body is.”

There was a dragging of chairs and then Rizavi was on his heels, Kinkade and Leifsdottir following.

Allura and Keith were the only ones whose voices echoed through the hallway, arguing with people who weren’t even listening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m so proud of how it turned out, honestly. This fic has become a very dear project for me, and I hope you all liked it and enjoyed it as much as I did<3
> 
> Once again, please, leave a comment to let me know what you think of it and a kudo if you liked. Thanks for reading till the end!


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